Category Archives: Photography

Sometimes the most random encounters lead too the most interesting experiences. Not so long ago, I was cycling along and this Korean guy started talking to me. I complimented his English level and he thanked me. It was a slightly awkward moment when he told me that he was an English teacher at a local high school. Face palm. Turns out he’s an ex-colleague of a friend of mine and boy, is he an interesting character.

Why Seabed? He chose his name because he believes in living deeply, and that everything he says and does comes from the depth of his soul. Poetic. I like it.

Apart from being an English teacher, he is a keen cyclist and photographer. He also casually mentioned that he circumnavigated Korea on a bicycle. This was a while ago but he managed it in two weeks. He also owns a Moulton bicycle with a Brooks saddle. Now, shame on me but I didn’t even know that Moulton existed and it’s a British Brand! I thought the only fold-up bike made in Britain was the Brompton (whose headquarters are opposite SEGA in West London). Turns out Moulton’s quite popular in Korea, what with their own member’s group and Youtube videos. If you like Abba, you should watch this vid:

Seabed told me about Kustom your Bicycle, useful for pimping your ride as well all learning how to spell bike components in Hangeul.

He’s quite into photography so it was great riding with him. We stopped at a few places along the way, he chatted up the old biddies so that we could get some character shots. It helps to speak Koran eh! Seabed showed me some of the photos he’s had published and told me about some noteworthy Korean photographers.

Jay Cheon Im (임 재 천) hails from Chuncheon and he collected a decade worth of photos of old-school Korea (small villages that capture the spirit old the Land of the Morning Calm). He published a book called “Korea Rediscovered” or “한국의재발”. Out of 1000 images he had to choose only 120. The book is available through Noonbit and retails at 40,000 won. I think that would make an awesome present for someone back home! He uses the Korean version of crowdfunder to help fund his projects and his contributors get limited edition prints in return for their help. Im is currently on Jeju island, where he is documenting the lives of the famous women freedivers, 해녀 . This project is also sponsored by his many followers. If you’re interested in Haenyeo, check out this documentary:

Two other photographers Seabed told me about are 이 갑철 (Gap Chul Lee) and 이 상일 (Sangil Yi). I reckon these webpages should keep you entertained for a while.

Finally, he also told me about a famous Korean poet who lives in Guryonpo, but that will have to wait until next time.

It took me a week to start catching up to the load of information Seabed dumped on me. It will take me at least 4 times as long to properly learn more about these subjects. I hope that you enjoy learning about them as much as I do.

I finished my 30 day Instagram photo project on Monday, but it had an unexpected ending.

I woke up at 6AM, made a flask of coffee and dragged my bleary eyed ass down the road to get some shots of the early morning hustle-bustle of Jukdo Market. I got some nice shots of the vegetable shops before I headed to the fish market- standard stuff, pleasant enough. I originally thought it would be nice to get a photo of the sun rising over the market. When I got to the fish market there was an octopus auction in motion so I couldn’t see much other than lots of octopuses crawling over the wet cement, and people. Then the auction finished. People bagged up their octo-purchases and moved away. And then I saw it.

A dead dolphin. Someone was trying to sell a dead dolphin. A female dolphin just over 1.20 meter long with a slit throat lying in a puddle of blood.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. I kept calm and took photos. Touched it. Dead. Hard. The merchant didn’t seem to mind me. I was in a sleepy , incredulous state, taking in the scene before me. I left, checked my photos and wanted to go back to get a better shot, but I didn’t want people to think I was being a pest so I used my best wide angle shot for my instagram photo. I went to the river, drank some coffee and a few tears rolled across my cheek. I didn’t want to cry in public so I went home, tried to put the image out of my head and got ready for school.

It was only when I came back from school that I could really release the emotion that I’d been holding like a breath all day. It’s 4 days later now and I’m still crying every time I think about the dolphin. I wish I’d never seen it.

I’ve always had a thing for dolphins. Before I learnt to scuba dive I was afraid of going beyond the breakers but on my 21st birthday there were dolphins passing by Jeffrey’s Bay’s main beach (South Africa). They were following their daily route- I’d seen them do it many times from the safety of the shore. That day, I decided to swim out to them, just past the breakers. My decision was bolstered by the fact that there were lifesavers lying on their surfboards in the area should I need them 😉 I could only see half their bodies because the visibility was low but I could hear their clicks. It was bliss. I fell in love. Shortly afterwards I went to Port Elizabeth’s oceanarium to see a dolphin show. I was early and the stadium was empty- I was one of 3 people there. One of the dolphins jumped out onto the shallow pool ledge to say hello. It would have been rude of me not to return the greeting so I touched it and only saw the “don’t touch” sign after the fact. It’s skin felt different than I always thought it would. It was smooth and rubbery, but with more give that I’d expected.

After I became a scuba diving instructor I saw dolphins very often, especially along the Sodwana Bay coast. Once, I had to stop my student’s navigation exercise because a dolphin swam right in front of us. I’ve always considered seeing dolphins on scuba a great privilege- it gives you such a high to see these mammals in the wild. Gosh, I’ve even seen dolphins mating. They have such a way with humans, the way they play in the wake of boats, how they jump! When people snorkel with dolphins they emit the greatest sounds- coos and shrieks of pure delight. It’s pleasure in it’s purest form.

The Cove opened my eyes to the enormous suffering that these cetaceans have to endure at the hand of human beings. Last year I taught my high school students about the human pressures on our marine environment, educating them on the issue of dolphins in captivity and the impending extinction of New Zealand’s Maui and Hector’s dolphin populations. I stopped short of showing them the film but told them to watch it.

In Korea, the law states that it’s illegal to kill whales and dolphins on purpose, BUT if they’re killed by accident, it’s OK to sell their meat. There’s a lot of whale meat in Korea. If I went to Jukdo Market early every morning, how many dead dolphins would I see? I didn’t see ANY boat damage to this cetacean, only the gash across its throat. Who polices this law? Who enforces the law that’s supposed to protect these animals?

It’s turnaround time in Korea. The time when old teachers leave and new ones arrive. This year there will be a smaller EPIK intake due to the government’s decision to cut high and middle school positions so fewer new people

I accidentally took a bicycle off someone’s hands because they’re leaving and it was such a good price I couldn’t resist: 40, 000 won ($40). It’s a girly bike with a basket.

If I had unlimited funds, and space, I would own a bike for every day: BMX, carbon road bike, mountain bike, Brompton foldable, girly basket bike, unicycle and tandem. For now, I have two.

So, this bike is pretty but it could be girlier. I went to Daiso and bought 4 squares of plastic grass (1, 000 won each) and a bunch of plastic flowers (1, 000 won) and started pimping.